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199
Housing of the Working Classes—Accounts.
Sir Samuel
Montagu
(Lord
Swaythling)
gift fund.
The gift of £10,000 received from Sir Samuel Montagu on 5th August, 1903, for improving
the White Hart-lane estate, amounted, with the interest thereon, on 31st March, 1911, to
£11,841 -s. 3d., of which £2,906 5s. -d. was invested in India Bills, maturing 8th April, 1911.
A sum of £7,587 5s. 3d. had up to 31st March, 1911, been applied to the purposes of the gift.
Special fund
for the
acquisition
of lands
under
Part III. of
the Housing
of the Working
Classes
Act, 1890.
The Council purchased Millbank Prison site under Part III. of the Act and when the Council
decided, with the sanction of the Home Secretary, to utilise a portion of this land for the purpose
of rehousing persons displaced in connection with the Thames Embankment Extension and Improvements
at Westminster, carried out under the London County Council (Improvements) Act, 1900, it was arranged
that the Westminster Improvement Account should be charged, and the Part III. Account credited
with a sum of £50,000, which has under the Statute to be applied towards " the cost of the acquisitions
by the Council of other lands for the purposes of Part III. of the Housing of the Working Classes
Act, 1890." After defraying certain expenditure on the Millbank Site Account, the fund amounted,
with interest, on 31st March, 1911, to £51,798 17s. 9d. The London County Council (General
Powers) Act, 1908, empowers the Council to apply this money in the " improvement and development
of estates already acquired by them under and for the purposes of Part III." The Council has
decided to utilise the fund in connection with the development of ,the Old Oak estate, and
£4,313 13s. 7d. has been applied to meet expenditure on this estate during the year. The balance
available for future expenditure on this estate is thus £47,485 4s. 2d.
Capital expenditure
dwellings
and estates.
The balance sheet shows that the total expenditure on capital account on the dwellings and
estates up to the 31st March, 1911, amounted to £2,136,075 13s. Id. The Summary of Financial
Results shows the apportionment of this figure as between land and buildings. The capital
expenditure during the year 1910-11 amounted to £86,478 13s. 7d.
With regard to dwellings erected to rehouse persons displaced by clearance schemes under Parts
I. and II. of the Act, the Council's practice is to charge the capital account of the dwellings with
the value of the site as earmarked for housing purposes, the account of the clearance scheme being
credited with this value. The latter account, which is charged with the cost of clearance and laying
out (less sales), is thus placed in the same position as it would have been if the Council had disposed
of the land for the erection of dwellings. In the case of dwellings erected under Part III. of the Act
the total cost of the land and of its development for building is chargeable against the dwellings.
The estimated commercial value and housing value are given on pages xxxviii. and xxxix.
in respect of all sites utilised for the erection of working class dwellings under Parts I. and II.
of the Act, whether the dwellings have been erected by Dwellings Companies or by the Council. As
regards sites sold to Dwellings Companies, the aggregate commercial value at the time of disposal is
estimated at £472,100, and the aggregate housing value as represented by cash received from Dwellings
Companies is £198,915, the difference of £273,185 being charged against the clearance schemes,
The aggregate commercial value on the same basis of sites acquired or appropriated by the Council is
estimated at £465,803, and the housing value charged to dwellings accounts to £163,361, the difference
of £302,442 being charged against the clearance schemes.
Capital expenditure
on
clearance
schemes.
The statement on page xxxvii. shows the capital expenditure on the clearance of insanitary areas
under Parts I. and II. of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, as distinct from the expenditure
on dwellings. The net capital expenditure to 31st March, 1911, under both parts of the
. Act for clearance schemes, amounted to £2,513,515 6s. 4d. The capital expenditure during the year
1910-11 amounted to £2,353 15s. 2d.
Results of
year 1910-11
Dwellings under Improvement Acts.
These dwellings were erected in pursuance of statutory obligations to provide rehousing
accommodation for persons displaced by improvements, etc., under various Acts of Parliament.
Certain dwellings were erected on sites on which, owing to their character or situation, an unfavourable
financial result was from the first anticipated ; these are shown under a separate head.
The result of the year's working of Dwellings under Improvement Acts is a net surplus of
£2,551 19s. lid., as compared with £1,560 15s. -d. in 1909-10.
Income.
The gross rental for the year from dwellings was £56,235 5s. 3d. Deducting therefrom
allowances for empties, caretakers' quarters, and amounts irrecoverable, the net rental amounted to
£52,712 -s. 6d., exclusive of £315 16s. 2d. for interest on cash balances. The amount of rent
irrecoverable was £39 4s. 2d., or only 0 07 per cent, of the gross rental. The total loss of income
due to " empties " was £2,920 l1s. 8d., or 5.19 per cent, of the gross rental, as against 6 90 per cent,
in 1909-10. The greater part of this loss occurred on three estates, viz. : Hughes Fields Dwellings
(£249, or 38.98 per cent, of gross rental), Brightlingsea Buildings (£264, or 24.27 per cent.), and Swanlane
Dwellings (£959, or 23.28 per cent.), which account for £1,472. On three other dwellings the
loss from empties was more than 10 per cent, of the gross rental.